DUBLIN UNIVERSITY ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL ASSOCIATION. 129 
ON THE OCCURRENCE OF A SINGULARLY METAMORPHOSED STATE OF BRYUM 
SANGUINEUM ; AND ON THE DISCOVERY OF SOME ADDITIONAL SPECIES TO 
THE IRISH FLORA. 
It is now a received axiom among botanists, that it is by studying the 
morphological changes which from time to time take place with phse- 
nogamic plants, that their true structure can be fully understood. 
This, no doubt, holds good also to a certain extent with cryptogamic 
plants, but, owing to the simplicity of their structure, it is rarely that 
opportunities are afforded for observing such changes of parts, with the 
exception of Terns, some of which natural group do occasionally assume 
appearances differing greatly from their normal state. The Mosses are, 
however, so constant to their general forms, that they have been likened 
by some to watch-works among vegetables, in consequence of the regu¬ 
larity and fineness of their structure; any abnormal changes, therefore, 
found to occur among members of this tribe are the more worthy of 
being recorded. 
In the present instance I have to bring under the notice of this As¬ 
sociation a remarkable state of Bryum sanguineum, which is so altered 
in some of its parts as to render it unlike the typical state of the plant. 
In the normal form of this species the lids of the capsules are shortly 
apiculate, i. e. they have short points, whereas the changed states here 
exhibited have long rostrate beaks, nearly equalling the length of the 
capsules themselves. Besides, these beaks are swollen at their bases in 
such a manner as to appear as if considerable progress were made in the 
formation of a second capsule, articulating with the first; and in one 
specimen there is no lid whatever, but a gradual tapering of the appa¬ 
rent capsule from the base to the long-pointed apex. The whole plant 
is more or less altered, the leaves being narrower and more lanceolate 
than they usually are; and in one case two of the setse were observed 
joined together nearly their whole length, when they separated towards 
their apices, each ending in a regular capsule. Mr. Wilson, to whom 
I sent specimens of this monstrosity, considers that the change arises 
from a morbid incorporation of the calyptra with the operculum when 
in an early state of inflorescence. This I also believe to be the prin¬ 
cipal cause, though it will not fully account for the plant which has no 
operculum. The specimens here presented were found growing among 
a large patch of the species in its normal state on Howth, by Mr. D. Orr, 
in April, 1856. 
The following species of Mosses, not hitherto recorded as Irish, have 
been discovered and identified since I furnished the last supplementary 
list in the “ Journal of the Boyal Dublin Society” (vide vol. i., 1857). 
Sphagnum contortum (Schultz). Black-stemmed Bog Moss. 
Habitat: Wicklow Mountains; Mr. J. H. Davies, of Thirsk, York¬ 
shire, who appears to have been the first to recognise this species in 
Ireland, and who lately sent specimens to me gathered in Wicklow. 
The plant, however, is not rare, since I find it in my herbarium, col- 
